Texas House kills, then revives state lottery, bingo games

AUSTIN -- The Texas Lottery suffered a near-death experience Tuesday, when the state House of Representatives voted to kill it, as well as all charitable bingo games.

But after a recess, during which the would-be killers were apparently convinced of their folly, the House mustered a supermajority to reconsider the vote and promptly reversed itself by late Tuesday.

Members of the El Paso delegation were scratching their heads in perplexity early Tuesday when the body narrowly voted to end the Texas Lottery Commission.

The matter came up when Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, introduced a measure that would have made some tweaks to the 20-year-old commission, but extended its life for another decade. Under Texas law, the commission comes up for a "sunset review" once every decade.

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Marty Schladen

Anchia was among those who were surprised when his bill became contentious.

"It appears it became a referendum on the lottery," he said.

Rep. Marisa Marquez, D-El Paso, is a member of the Appropriations Committee that spent months cobbling together a draft of the state budget. She said many who voted to kill the lottery were newcomers to the House and did not understand its implications for the budget.

Rep. Naomi Gonzalez, D-El Paso, said that killing the lottery would take $2.2 billion out the state budget over the next two years.

Anchia said that represents only the money that would be lost to public education. Killing the Lottery Commission also would end bingo, which generates $26 million for Texas charities each year, he said.

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All five members of the El Paso House delegation voted for a bill to preserve the Lottery Commission. That failed 82-64, but a vote to reverse that vote passed 91-53.

As with many lottery opponents, freshman Rep. Steve Toth, R-Woodlands, said he was against the lottery because it exploits the poor.

However, a University of Houston study said that poor and minorities don't play the lottery in disproportionate numbers, Anchia said.

Anchia seemed amused that Toth and other tea party supporters voted against the lottery out of concern for the poor. Anchia and a handful of Democrats voted against a House version of the budget earlier this month because it didn't expand Medicaid and because they didn't believe it spent enough on public education.

"I see an irony," he said. "You have all these members who voted for a budget that this $2.2 billion was in."

Marty Schladen may be reached at mschladen@elpasotimes.com; 512-479-6606.